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CNN This Morning

Russia's Medvedev: May Be Forced To Use Nuclear Weapon If Ukraine's Counteroffensive Successful; Trucking Company Yellow Shuts Down, Putting 30,000 Out Of Work; School District Reaches $9.1 Million Settlement With Family Of 12-Year-Old Who Died By Suicide. Aired 7:30- 8a ET

Aired July 31, 2023 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[07:30:00]

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH (via Webex by Cisco): -- he's been able to pull off in this campaign.

So I get it -- everybody's got it. It's campaign season. Everybody is looking for a hook and a way to try to get ahead, but good luck with your message.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: What people don't realize is McConnell world, when they want to go at you --

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

MATTINGLY: -- they don't mess around.

Bakari, Scott, appreciate it, guys. Thank you.

HARLOW: Thank you.

So this new threat from Russia. A senior official there says, quote, "There simply wouldn't be any other solution outside of using a nuclear weapon if Ukraine's counteroffensive succeeds." What Dmitry Medvedev said about what he calls Russian land, next.

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HARLOW: Welcome back.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, says Russia may have to use nuclear weapons if Ukraine's counteroffensive is successful -- and ends with, quote, "Part of our land being taken away."

These comments come as the counteroffensive appears to be entering a new, more aggressive phase. For the first time, Ukrainian forces have reached one of Russia's long-stretching dragon teeth -- that's what it's called -- defensive lines -- concrete anti-tank fortifications -- one example of the deeply-layered defenses Russia has developed to slow any attempt to take back territory in southern Ukraine. With us now is CNN military analyst and former member of the Joint

Chief of Staff -- Joint Staff, I should say, at the Pentagon, and former deputy director for training at the NSA, retired Col. Cedric Leighton.

Colonel Leighton, before we get to what we just showed people, what's your reaction to hearing what Dmitry Medvedev said?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST, FORMER MEMBER OF JOINT STAFF, PENGATON, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR TRAINING, NSA: Well, I think it's very concerning, Poppy, and good morning to you.

You know, one of the things that the Russians are looking at is the fact that they annexed -- officially annexed all this territory right here that the Russians have occupied. So what that could mean is that when you look at all the different possible paths, if the Ukrainians come in this way and take this territory the threat from Medvedev is that they would potentially use tactical nuclear weapons. That, of course, would be a game-changer in a case like this.

[07:35:00]

MATTINGLY: Colonel Leighton, can you walk people through dragon's teeth? It sounds like a buzzy type of title but I think when you go into what that actually means it underscores why this is such a slog. Why this is such a complex moment in the counteroffensive. What does that actually mean?

LEIGHTON: So, Phil, what that really means is when you look at all the different places that the Ukrainians are moving in. So if they come in here, you see the very little territorial gains made by the Ukrainians in all these areas right here. And the reason for that is, like you mentioned, the dragon's teeth. These are concrete barriers filled with not only concrete but rebar, and what they do is they actually are barriers.

And as you can see here, you look -- you see the -- right in front of us you see the dragon's teeth. And as the vehicle -- the infantry fighting vehicle is moving forward it is actually trying to get into a trench and it's moving through that trench. It's at an extremely vulnerable point right here.

But think of this -- hundreds of miles of this kind of stuff. We've got a 600-mile-long front right here and all of this is area that is defended in one way or another, some of it more heavily than other areas. But the basic idea is that at every step of the way there is some kind of a defensive area. And it's especially true in places like Crimea and it's also true in parts of the eastern front around Bakhmut.

So this is a very significant area for the Russians to try to hold and, of course, for the Ukrainians to try to regain.

HARLOW: The drone attacks -- we showed one in the last hour inside Russia. There was that one most recently in Moscow.

What do they tell you? What do we know about them?

LEIGHTON: So these are very important, Poppy. You look at two different areas really close to the Ukrainian border. You have the town of Taganrog, which was attacked by a drone. Not a big surprise.

HARLOW: Yes.

LEIGHTON: It's very close to the Ukrainian border.

But Moscow --

HARLOW: Right.

LEIGHTON: -- that is about 800 kilometers away from the Ukrainian border so a bit over almost 500 miles.

The Ukrainian drones that are probably being used are something like this. This is a UJ-22 model attack drone built by the Ukrainians. They are able to use this. It has the range to go from Ukraine to Moscow and it has potential payloads of weapons that could potentially cause the damage that we saw at that high-rise in Moscow.

So these are very, very important weapons for the Ukrainians to use. It's part of the Ukrainians' asymmetric war effort and that makes a really big difference because, on the one side, you have the drones. On the other side, you have what the Russians could do against those drones, and that includes the areas of electronic warfare. So they can jam the drone -- not only the radars but the datalinks for the drone.

HARLOW: Hmm.

LEIGHTON: It can serve as a deception move. And it can also potentially use directed energy weapons against drones like this one.

So these are -- these are things that are critically important when it comes to this kind of warfare. But what Ukraine is doing is it's changing the face of warfare in the air and actually, in the -- on the sea as well.

MATTINGLY: Before we let you go, there's a -- there's a headline that caught my attention. The Polish prime minister saying that 100 Wagner mercenaries were headed toward the Polish border.

How concerning is this?

LEIGHTON: It's very concerning, Phil, and one of the key things to keep in mind is this area here known as the Suwalki Gap -- this is the area right between Belarus and this Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. That enclave is a vestige of World War II.

And what the Wagner forces are doing is they are potentially coming into this area right here, which is the primary communications and logistics link for the Russian forces because this here is the base for the Russian Baltic Sea fleet and that is one of the key areas. That's one of the reasons that the Russians want to keep this area and one of the reasons, of course, that the Wagner group could potentially try to use this area to cut off everything from NATO right here. These are all NATO countries -- Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as, of course, Poland.

HARLOW: OK. Colonel Leighton, thank you as always.

LEIGHTON: You bet.

MATTINGLY: One of the nation's biggest and oldest trucking companies -- it's shutting down. What it means for its 30,000 employees and their customers, next.

HARLOW: Also, Madonna is speaking out after that serious infection that left her in the ICU. What she posted, next.

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[07:43:52]

HARLOW: So, Yellow, which is one of the oldest and biggest American trucking companies, will halt operations after 99 years in business. This comes after a long battle with the union over missed pension and health benefit payments. Thirty thousand workers will be laid off as a result of the shutdown.

The company still owes the federal government upwards of $700 million for a pandemic-era loan. That's according to its most recent quarterly report.

The Teamsters president says, quote, "Yellow has historically proven that it could not manage itself despite billions of dollars in worker concessions and hundreds of millions [of dollars] in bailout funding from the government."

We're waiting to hear from the company itself. They are expected to file for bankruptcy in the coming days.

MATTINGLY: Well, also this morning, more than 50 million Americans are under heat alerts, but El Paso is finally seeing a bit of relief after its record streak of 44 straight days of temperatures topping 100 degrees. The highest temperature hit 111 degrees on July 19. It was around 97 degrees there Sunday.

In Phoenix -- well, not so fortunate just yet. It hit a high of 115 degrees on Saturday. The city has suffered through 31 consecutive days of temperatures above 110 -- that's insane -- 110 degrees.

[07:45:00]

Forecasters say more than 140 heat records could be broken or tied just this week.

HARLOW: We also have an update on Madonna. She says she's lucky to be alive after a month -- a month after she was hospitalized in the ICU for a serious bacterial infection.

Here's what she posted on Instagram. "Love from family and friends is the best medicine. As a mother, you can really get caught up in the needs of your children and the seemingly endless giving. But when the chips were down my children really showed up for me." She continued, "Thank you to all my angels who protected me and let me stay to finish doing my work."

Her Celebration Tour that was scheduled to begin this month in Vancouver has been postponed until October.

We're just glad we have an update and she's doing, it sounds like, pretty well.

MATTINGLY: Well, a New Jersey school district will pay $1.9 (sic) million to the family of a 12-year-old girl who died by suicide after she was bullied at the school. Her parents -- $9.1 million dollars, sorry. Her parents will talk about the impact of the settlement coming up next.

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MATTINGLY: A wake-up call for schools. That's what the mother of Mallory Grossman calls it. A New York -- a New Jersey school district will pay $9.1 million to the family of a preteen girl who died by suicide after she was bullied at school.

Diane and Seth Grossman sued Rockaway Township School District in 2018, claiming that despite repeated complaints, school administrators did not do enough to prevent their daughter's death.

Twelve-year-old Mallory Grossman took her own life in June 2017 after being bullied in school and cyberbullied by classmates through texts and Snapchat messages, according to the lawsuit.

HARLOW: In 2017, the school district said in a statement that "The allegations that the district ignored the Grossman family and failed to address bullying in general, is categorically false."

We've reached out to that school district for comment again after this settlement and we haven't heard back.

An attorney for the Grossman family told CNN it is the largest bullying settlement in New Jersey's state history.

[07:50:02]

Well, joining us now, the mother and father of Mallory, Dianne and Seth Grossman. Also with us, their attorney, Bruce Nagel. Dianne and Seth, thank you very much. You are living every parent's worst nightmare and our hearts are with you this morning.

Dianne, let me begin with you. What do you want people to know? I know this settlement, for you, was not about money. It's about what happened to your girl.

DIANNE GROSSMAN, MOTHER OF MALLORY GROSSMAN: I think that it's time for the schools to understand that we have an epidemic on our hands. I think it's time for the schools to start to enforce their policies -- and if they don't have policies, now is the time to write those policies. This is a wake-up call for all school systems.

HARLOW: Can you -- what do mean those policies? What do you think would have made meaningful change for Mallory?

D. GROSSMAN: I think that there is an easy way to start making changes. The first thing that any school system can do, particularly middle school, is they can remove the cell phones. It's not necessary for the kids to be walking around with cell phones in their hands or their back pockets, especially during the school day.

I think that we have an unhealthy relationship with technology. And I think that the schools, by allowing these cell phones at school during the day, whether they allow access to social media or not -- you know, a video can be taken and shared hundreds of millions of times; whereas, a story of a kid falling or getting hurt can only be told.

And I think the influencers that the kids follow encourage this type of behavior. So I think removing the cell phones is the first step.

And I also think that schools need a parents' bill of rights. Parents need to know how to report what's going on, and that's the foundation of Mallory's Law that we helped fund -- find.

I also think that you have to have a policy. You know, New Jersey does have a New Jersey HIB, which stands for Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying Act.

HARLOW: Yes.

D. GROSSMAN: But I think that we need more. There needs to be consequences in place. Children need to be able to predict the consequences of their behavior and I think our lawsuit sets the stage for that.

MATTINGLY: Can I ask just for people who weren't following this story when it -- when everything happened -- the tragedy happened and then your efforts here. How long -- how far in advance did the school know what was happening? What was the interaction between you guys and the school before this all transpired?

D. GROSSMAN: Well, we started seeing evidence of it towards the end of fifth grade. So, in September of sixth grade, which would have been September of 2016, we started reporting in writing to the guidance counselors, her teachers. So we started really early on pointing out some of the things that would be defined as bullying. And we didn't ask the school at that time to really define it. What we asked them to do is make the behavior stop. And that, I think, is the most important.

You know, schools get caught up -- is it bullying? Is it not bullying? In our family, we don't care what you call it. We just want the teasing, the harassment, the intimidation, the exclusion -- we wanted all of that behavior to stop.

And their solution was to isolate Mallory fuller -- more, and then put her in with the guidance counselor. I don't know any sixth-grader that wants to sit with their guidance counselor to have lunch. That wasn't a solution.

HARLOW: Yes.

Seth, can you tell us a little bit about Mallory? We see all these beautiful pictures of her with you. I think I saw her in gymnastics leotards. What did she love, and what was she like?

SETH GROSSMAN, FATHER OF MALLORY GROSSMAN: Oh, well, she was great. She was definitely a lover of the outdoors. She definitely liked sports, cheer, and gymnastics, and she excelled at it. It was kind of her safe place. It was something that she was very good at.

She was definitely a philanthropic child for even a 12-year-old -- just some of the things she would do. I don't -- I don't know where she found it from or got it from but she definitely liked to help other kids. She raised a lot of money for Camp Good Days, which is a place for kids with cancer can go in the summertime to kind of escape everything that's going on in their lives and to give them some sense of normalcy. So she was very empathic as far as that goes.

And she really -- she made her mark in her short 12 years. So --

HARLOW: Yes. Wow, what a child.

S. GROSSMAN: Yes --

MATTINGLY: Bruce, we hear --

S. GROSSMAN: -- she really was.

MATTINGLY: It's heartbreaking and also, for somebody to accomplish that in 12 years --

HARLOW: Amazing.

MATTINGLY: -- says a lot about the daughter.

But also, I think also says a lot about what Mallory will be remembered for to some degree -- the legacy. And that's why I want to ask you do you feel like, Bruce, since this is, I think by your account, the largest settlement in history related to -- that you're aware of -- related to this specific issue, is this precedent? Is this something that other -- will kind of set the stage for more of this to come?

[07:55:02]

BRUCE NAGEL, ATTORNEY FOR THE GROSSMAN FAMILY: Well, obviously, we want it to end. But this case and this settlement -- the size of this settlement to send a wake-up call and a signal -- and a strong signal to every school in the country that bullying is a major, major problem and our children need to be protected.

They need to understand that this little cell phone is a lethal weapon in the hands of a bullying student. It's got to be stopped and it's not difficult to stop it. HARLOW: Did you press for an admission of accountability in the settlement?

NAGEL: The answer is yes, but that's not something that any school district will do.

HARLOW: Well, in The New York Times piece, they talked about one school district in a different case that did, and that was so rare. That's what got me thinking.

NAGEL: It was -- it was -- it was extremely rare. The admission in this case is $9.1 million. It's the highest amount paid, to our knowledge, in the country in a bullying case, and that speaks volumes with regard to the admission and the responsibility of the schools.

MATTINGLY: Dianne, before we let you go, what do you hope not just for kind of the broader message to schools and the wake-up call, but what this kind of says about Mallory or adds to Mallory's legacy going forward?

D. GROSSMAN: I think for us as a family we stuck it out. We hung in there. From the minute that Mallory passed away, we hit the ground running and we started a nonprofit. I travel to schools. I tell Mallory's story. It's not a PowerPoint; it's a heartfelt message. And if the schools don't get it then maybe the parents and the kids will.

It's not so hard to just be nice to someone. Even if someone doesn't like you or you don't want to be friends with them, it really isn't that difficult to just leave them alone. And I think in this situation that was -- that's Mallory's story is that she's telling all of the kids and, particularly, the kids that are being bullied, that you do have people in your life that love you and self-harm is no answer to any issue that you're having.

And I hope that Mallory's story gives the children that are being bullied or the parents that -- of those children -- that it gives them a little bit of hope. And I just hope that we continue to be the parents that we are and continue to share our story and lend our voice to this epidemic.

HARLOW: Yes. And as we said at the top, you are in our heart. Thank you for being with us and sharing about Mallory and your work this morning --

D. GROSSMAN: Thank you for having us.

S. GROSSMAN: Thank you.

HARLOW: -- Dianne, Seth, and Bruce.

D. GROSSMAN: Thank you.

S. GROSSMAN: Have a good day.

HARLOW: If you know anyone who is grappling with suicidal thoughts, please call 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. It provides free and confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week for people in crisis or distress. You can also call that number to talk to someone about how you can help a person in crisis.

We'll be right back.

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